Chapter 1757 - 244 - Battle of the Great Ocean, Part 1 (1)

Leon's POV

I took off the cover I had placed over the Republican soldier I had captured earlier, revealing him still tied tightly to the chair where I had left him. He had remained unconscious for quite a while, so I figured the easiest way to wake him up was to use a bucket filled with water.

I lifted the bucket and poured the cold water directly over his head, soaking his hair, clothes, and practically everything else he was wearing.

"Cough, cough...! W-What the...?!"

He suddenly jerked awake, coughing violently as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes darted around the room in confusion, almost as if he had completely forgotten what had happened before he lost consciousness and had only just realized that something was seriously wrong.

"Are you awake now?" I asked him calmly.

"W-Who the fuck are you?!" he shouted angrily.

Judging by the look on his face, he was furious enough that I briefly thought he might actually try jumping at me and throwing a punch.

Unfortunately for him, his current circumstances weren't exactly ideal for that sort of thing.

His arms and legs were completely restrained, while thick metallic chains kept his entire body firmly attached to the chair. Even if he wanted to attack me, there was practically nothing he could do except move around uselessly and make the chains rattle.

Since punching me wasn't exactly an available option, he settled for asking the obvious question instead.

"It's not really that important, is it?" I told him. "What's more important right now is the question I'm about to ask you."

I was basically reminding him that his questions weren't particularly important at the moment, considering that he was the one tied to a chair while I was standing freely in front of him.

I showed him Samui so that he could see for himself that I wasn't joking around.

The moment his eyes landed on the weapon, his expression changed.

He swallowed nervously.

He clearly understood what I was capable of doing if he decided to make the wrong move or refused to cooperate.

"W-What do you want to ask?" he finally said, his voice noticeably more nervous than before as he stared at me like he was expecting me to suddenly do something terrible.

"You're a Republic soldier, aren't you?" I asked him. "Then why is a Republican soldier here on one of the islands in the middle of the Great Ocean?"

The moment I asked that question, his expression hardened.

He glared at me with obvious suspicion, but beneath that anger, I could still see the nervousness that he was desperately trying to hide.

Instead of answering immediately, he seemed to pull himself back into the chair as much as his restraints allowed.

"W-What is it to you?" he asked defensively.

"I know for a fact that you people aren't from this world," I told him. "I also know that you consider this place inferior to your own world, along with the people living here. Considering that, I find it rather strange that someone like you would willingly cooperate with the very people you consider beneath you."

"Keh."

He gave me a crooked smile.

It wasn't exactly the kind of smile that made someone look friendly.

If anything, it made him look even more unpleasant.

"Isn't that only natural?" he said. "Even if they're people you consider beneath you, you still have to cooperate with them if you want to get something useful out of them, don't you?"

He gave a quiet chuckle while leaning back against the chair as much as the restraints permitted.

"If you want to know whether they're actually useful, you have to see what they can do with your own eyes. You have to test them and find out what they're capable of before deciding whether they're worth keeping around."

His smile became slightly wider.

"That's how things work, isn't it? If something has even a little bit of value, you find a way to use it. Besides, even useless tools can still be useful for something when you know how to handle them."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"It's just like dealing with merchants. You look at what they have, figure out what they're worth, and then make use of whatever benefits you can get from them."

His expression became increasingly smug as he continued talking.

"I had quite a lot of fun with that mermaid bitch, you know?"

I slapped him across the face immediately after he finished that sentence.

"Kuhah!"

The impact was strong enough to knock his head sideways, and his entire restrained body shifted awkwardly against the chair. The metallic chains rattled loudly from the sudden movement, but they held him firmly in place.

"Kuh... W-What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted as he slowly turned his face back toward me.

"Sorry," I said calmly. "Your face was just so fucking slappable that I couldn't help myself."

I looked down at him for a moment.

"What the fuck is your purpose?" I asked him. "If you don't tell me, then I'm going to start cutting off something that's very precious to you."

"W-What?"

His expression immediately changed.

I slowly lowered my gaze toward his crotch.

The instant he realized exactly where I was looking, the smugness disappeared from his face almost completely, replaced by an expression of genuine fear.

"Y-You wouldn't...!"

"You think I wouldn't?" I asked him.

I continued staring at him without showing any sign that I was joking.

"You have absolutely no idea how many of those things I've already cut because their owners were using them in the wrong way."

His breathing became noticeably heavier.

The anger he had shown earlier was beginning to disappear, replaced by the much more obvious fear of what might happen if he continued refusing to cooperate.

"Y-You bastard...!"

He glared at me, but his eyes were beginning to betray him.

Tears were slowly forming around the corners of his eyes, and despite his attempts to maintain that intimidating expression, his trembling made it obvious that the threat had gotten through to him.

At this point, he wasn't going to be able to keep acting tough forever.

Eventually, something had to give.